Institution of the Passover (Exodus 12:43-51)

43 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it [meaning people who are not of the covenant community], 44 but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him [because they are made part of the covenant community]. 45 No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. 46 It shall be eaten in one house [as a community meal]; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house [best remembered by staying indoors as the original meal was to avoid the tenth plague], and you shall not break any of its bones. [There is no explanation given for not breaking the bones. The most logical explanation of the prohibition is God’s desire that the lamb symbolize the body of Christ crucified and the subsequent unity of the body of Christ in the sense of the church. The careful eating of the lamb inside where non-covenant community members are not part of the meal or animals such as dogs, which could eat fallen scraps, are kept away, points to the sacredness of the body of Christ not only as it is offered up on the cross as a substitutionary atonement in the future, but also as we remember that event in our covenant communion meal.] 47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.48 If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land [being made a part of the covenant community]. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”

50 All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.